This contribution is being made up of an interview with S. Flor, a man wholives in the year 2029. Regional markets have become important institutions.Together with the old-style capitalist system they form the so-called "dualeconomy". Flor describes how this systems works, he provides us with aninsight into the historical development and sheds light on the cultural, thepolitical and the social context of this economic structure. On the firstglance a reader might get the impression that this is a picture of an almostperfect world. Many of the social and ecological problems of the year 2004have vanished or they are dealt with in a sensible manner. During the courseof the interview, however, it becomes clear that also societies of the year2029 are faced with tremendous challenges. Flor himself is quite criticalabout the attempts of his contemporaries to react to these challenges onlywith problem solving within the existing framework. He is a visionary wholooks beyond - X stands for the three-dimensional utopian world heenvisages.

technicians and software advisers offer their services. Local agriculture inthe periphery of the city has enormously benefited from this possibility tomarket its products. The same can be said of the social sector - nurses areoften being paid with regional money.

Rolf Schröder: How does a hairdresser - to take up your example - cope withthe constraint of being paid just in regional currency? Apart from privateexpenditures they also have to defray costs in Euro.

S. Flor: You are right. In particular the equipment used has to be financedin very orthodox ways. However, from the examples I mentioned before, youcan see that the typical local services do not require much capital. Butcoming back to the hairdresser - his customers are not only people like me,who pay with regional money. I would reckon that more than one third of themare bank clerks, highly specialized engineers, secretaries and others, whopay their bill in the old way by producing their Euro card. Whereas I paideight "Locales" the price in Euro is higher, twelve or fourteen Euros, asfar as I remember. Of course, this reflects the fiscal benefits for regionaltransactions. However, my hairdresser could decide to change prices with theaim to increase his Euro income - it is his choice.

Rolf Schröder: As I understand it, these institutions are markets, a smallcopy of what we have on the global level.

S. Flor: Not quite. They are non-profit organizations. People sell and theymake money, yes, but this makes sense only in as far as they spend the moneyagain.

Rolf Schröder: How does that work in practice? How did you effectuate thepayment of eight "Locales"? Did you also use plastic money?

S. Flor: Yes. Although the "plastic" and the whole payment transfer hashardly any resemblance with what you experience in the early years of thecentury. Inserting the price into the payment machine plus security check isa very quick procedure. The amount is being credited on the account of thehairdresser whereas I get a debit note. These accounts are being managed bythe local market authority. This administration is also providing financialsupport, manages credit lines, and assists with regard to technologytransfer and professional training. These institutions are a kind of pivotbetween the regional markets and the traditional economy.

2. The Dual Economy - a story of mutual dependency

Rolf Schröder: This arrangement appears to be rather complex. What I findsurprising is that the regional markets and the old-style economy areclosely bound up with each other. Would it be correct to say that they arejust a kind of annex to the global system?

S. Flor: In a way - yes, although this sounds like the negativeinterpretation put forward by those critics who argue that the fundamentaleconomic reform of the last decades only conceals the inherentcontradictions of capitalism.